The New-York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on Kazakh authorities to "thoroughly" investigate several recent attacks against journalists in the Central Asian country.
In a statement dated January 24, the CPJ said Kazakh officials should "hold all those responsible to account, and ensure that members of the press are able to work safely."
"While Kazakh police should be applauded for their swift work in apprehending suspects in two recent attacks on journalists, authorities must ensure that all the recent instances of harassment against the press are thoroughly investigated and that those who ordered them are held to account," Gulnoza Said, the CPJ's Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, said.
On January 19, unknown individuals covered the door of noted journalist Vadim Boreiko with construction foam. Boreiko, who runs the popular Giperborei YouTube channel, said the attack was linked to his journalistic activities.
A day before that, a popular new website, Ulysmedia.kz, had to suspend its operations following a hacking attack. The website's chief editor, Samal Ibraeva, told RFE/RL the attack was most likely linked to the website's professional activities, adding that the website had faced several similar attacks in recent months.
Earlier that week, the apartment door of Gulnara Bazhkenova, chief editor of the Orda news website, was also covered with construction foam for the third time since September. Bazhkenova told the CPJ that investigators had apprehended two young people in November who admitted to some of the attacks, but those who ordered them to do so have not been identified.
Other attacks have included the torching of one journalist's car and the breaking of glass doors at media offices, including at the Elmedia television channel, which has been vandalized six times since last year.
The subjects of the attacks have been writing and reporting about Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine and the first anniversary of the violent dispersal of anti-government protests that turned into mass unrest that left at least 238 people, including 19 law enforcement officers, dead.
On January 20, presidential spokesman Ruslan Zheldibai said President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev, who has initiated a series of changes since last year's deadly protests to create a "new Kazakhstan," has ordered law enforcement to investigate all attacks on journalists.
"Authorities' rhetoric about a 'new Kazakhstan' will remain empty words unless they are able to ensure journalists' safety," the CPJ's Said added in the statement.
The CPJ also said it had asked Kazakhstan's Information Ministry and Interior Ministry to comment the situation faced by the journalists, but had yet to receive an answer.
Last week, the embassies of several Western countries urged the Kazakh authorities to investigate the attacks.